


Arizona

by sidnihoudini



Series: Fork and Knife [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Genre: Arguing, Bumps in the Road, M/M, Silly Bitches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-05 20:37:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13395786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sidnihoudini/pseuds/sidnihoudini
Summary: Aside from the two of them, the hallway is empty.“Chris isn’t coming,” Seb announces. He gives the door handle to their room a tug so the lock clicks all the way, and then pats his thighs down, making sure he remembered to grab his phone.Mackie is half-asleep. He still manages a pretty impressive eye roll.





	Arizona

**Author's Note:**

> WELL HI. 
> 
> I was planning to do a con fic going into Arizona, but then on Saturday night I decided to wait juuuuust to make sure, and well, that was the correct choice. I did waffle with whether or not I wanted to write this pretty much all day Monday, but in the end I decided it would be a fun challenge. I've wanted to dip into a F&K fight for a while now, I just never got around to it - couldn't say no to this kind of opportunity, though.
> 
> F&K will _never end sad_. Just for the record. If you wanna see what THAT looks like, check out [To Wong Foo](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13234965) in the [Together, Together](http://archiveofourown.org/series/908940) universe.
> 
> For right now the next F&K planned will be for the second anniversary in May, buuut you never know what might happen between now and then. I'm finding it challenging to translate current irl events to the F&K universe, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
> 
> Enjoy!!

Aside from the two of them, the hallway is empty.

“Chris isn’t coming,” Seb announces. He gives the door handle to their room a tug so the lock clicks all the way, and then pats his thighs down, making sure he remembered to grab his phone.

Mackie is half-asleep. He still manages a pretty impressive eye roll.

*

_Yesterday_

“Oh god.” Seb starts crawling into bed with his shoes still on. “Don’t let me fall asleep!”

Rumpled and not at all awake yet, Chris rubs his face with both hands, and then yawns as he looks over his shoulder at the alarm clock.

“We have an hour,” he says. His voice is rough, sleepy, exactly what Seb likes to hear when they’ve been apart for a couple days. “If you wanna sleep for a bit, I’ll wake you up before we have to leave.”

Seb digs himself into Chris’s pillow, and considers this. A morning nap might make him even more tired, yes, but also, maybe 30 minutes could help.

Decision reached, he nods, and holds both arms out. “Take your pants back off and you got a deal.”

Chris laughs sleepily and rolls off his ass, and then on top of Seb.

*

As usual, the first day of the event is chaotic, exhausting, and criminally oversold.

He shakes babies and kisses hands and tries his very best to be tuned into people's needs, but there’s only so much he can do. By the time the three of them are piling back into the SUV at the end of the day, Seb is ready for some food first, and then either dick, or a solid 8 hours.

If there were 26 hours in a day, he would take both.

“Man, you guys wanna go out and eat?” Mackie asks, briefly looking up from his phone.

Chris yawns and stretches both arms out until he accidentally bangs his knuckles into the ceiling. His face is still all crumpled up, voice yawn-strangled and weird as he counters with, “What time does Hayley get in?”

“Ooooh shit!” Mackie points at Chris. “Tell her to meet us at the hotel bar. Mr. Movie Star is gonna buy.”

Laughing, Seb slumps against Chris’s side, and roasts back, “I didn’t know you were still getting work.”

“Shots fired!” Mackie crows, holding one hand up.

Seb is still smiling. He relaxes, and watches Chris’s phone screen as he looks for Hayley in his Messages, finds her, and starts typing with a _HEY!_

*

“You’re gonna pay for that, man,” Mackie cackles, as the server walks away with Chris’s request for another round of his beer.

Seb laughs and settles back in his seat.

“Oh he’ll be fine!” Hayley - fresh from the airport - pats him on the boob. “He’s got a strong constitution.”

“Yeah!” Chris is definitely a little tipsy. Seb laughs again and watches as Chris adjusts the brim of his hat and raises his eyebrows. “What she said!”

“Okay boys,” Hayley announces. She begins cracking her lobster apart with her hands as Seb twirls pasta around his fork and eyes the older couple sitting in the table across from their booth. “Tell me the best thing you saw today.”

*

“I am gonna sleeeep,” Seb announces, hotel room door clicking shut behind them. He tips his hat off, rubs his forehead, and starts to shrug out of his jacket. “You wanna shower?”

Chris is already standing behind the couch, flipping through the TV channels for what Seb is gonna assume is tonight’s Patriots game.

“Oh yeah babe, I do.” He checks out the score. “Look at THAT. That’s a winning number, Seb.”

Seb walks up behind him and frowns. “31?”

“Three touchdowns!” Chris takes his own hat off and flips it around. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

Rolling his eyes, Seb takes the opportunity to knock it back off Chris’s head since the brim is so conveniently right there, and starts unbuttoning his jeans. He laughs and kicks Chris’s butt when he does BABE and bends over to pick it up.

Ten minutes later, Seb is standing under the shower head, and letting hot water pour over his shoulders. 

He opens his eyes as he hears the curtain pull.

They’ve had a rough year. Seb will admit that. It’s been tough, with his schedule, with everything that’s been going on. Even since Chris has been back, they’ve really only seen each other when they were both on set and working.

That’s a hard way to maintain any relationship.

Chris wraps his arms around Seb’s waist, and dips his nose into the side of his neck.

“Tired,” Seb says, for both of them. Chris nods and tightens his grip.

This month was supposed to be the eye of the storm. Seb is still working, sure, but he’s down to just the one project, and Chris isn’t expected in New York until the end of the month. 

For two whole weeks, they’re going to be in the same city, and Seb plans to take full advantage of that.

He rests both hands on Chris’s hips and leans his head to the side, so it rests against Chris’s temple.

*

“Oh yeah, lemme in there.” Seb flips the blanket back over both of them, and pushes himself closer with an elbow steadied against the mattress. “I’m gonna sleep like I’m dead.”

Chris laughs as he finishes setting the alarm on his phone.

“I think I’m allergic to that soap,” he says after, sniffling a little.

They get situated: Seb snugged in good, with one thigh pressed up against Chris’s dick. 

He’s too tired to bone tonight, but man, tomorrow it is number one on his list.

“Well, better suck it up.” Seb closes his eyes and exhales against the side of Chris’s neck. He smells good. “I’m not moving.”

Laughing, Chris stretches to click the light off, and rests his hand flat on Seb’s bare back.

*

“I don’t know…” It’s early morning, clear blue light streaming in through the picture windows. Two silver room service domes sit side by side on the desk. “I don’t feel good.”

Seb frowns and presses his hand to Chris’s forehead. “How?”

“Headache,” Chris sniffs, squinting up at Seb’s face. “Maybe puke.”

Worried, Seb chews his lip and stands there between Chris’s thighs as he feels his cheeks and then the back of his neck. He has no idea what he’s looking for, but it’s what his mom used to do to him so it must do something.

“You’re gonna have to take some Tylenol and hope for the best.” The only way out is through. There is no way they’re gonna be able to keep on top of things today if Chris can’t make it through the whole six hours. “You want me to find you some?”

Chris rubs his face with both hands, and says, “Maybe I should cancel.”

“Babe…” Seb nervously runs one hand through Chris’s hair.

“I just don’t feel right, Seb,” he squints.

Fuck, Seb suddenly realizes. This is gonna be a thing. He brushes his fingers gently along Chris’s hairline again, tracing down his sideburn to his cheek.

“Listen.” He puts on his softest voice. “Let’s just get there, and then you can see how you feel. Maybe you can postpone your first group.”

Chris leans forward, and rests his forehead against Seb’s belly. “If I do that, then we’ll be there all day.”

“Well you can’t just…” Seb trails off, confused, and looks out the window across the room. He feels Chris’s nose bump his belly button. “I mean, yeah, that’s probably what would happen.”

Sighing, Chris admits, “I gotta sleep some more. I think I’m just run down.”

“Chris…” Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. 

This is one of the only areas where they don’t see eye to eye. Work ethic. And that’s all Seb is gonna say about that for today.

“I’m gonna call,” Chris decides. “I’m just gonna call and see what they say.”

Well.

That leaves Seb to his breakfast, which he eats while he listens to Chris talk to his assistant on his phone in the bathroom. It’s a little echoey, and gives Seb weird, distinct flashbacks of calling in hungover to a shift at H&M when he was 20.

“She’s gonna talk to whoever,” Chris announces, coming back into the main room.

Not having it, Seb looks down into his plate, and shakes his head. He very determinedly cuts into his waffle. 

“What?” Chris asks, pausing beside the bed. “Are you mad at me?”

Seb closes his eyes and sighs. Man. This is the last thing he wants to get into right now.

“I’m a little bit mad.” He jams the fork full of waffle in his mouth, and then can’t help saying, muffled, “Just, it’s not gonna hurt to go and see how far you can make it. You’re gonna disappoint a lot of people.”

Chris is listening, but he’s not responding. He scratches his boob and flips through the bed covers before he starts getting back into bed. Seb quietly makes his way through the last quarter of his plate.

“Now I really don’t feel good,” Chris finally says. He sniffs and adds, “You’re making me feel bad! Seb!”

“You know how fucked up these things are. They’re already overbooked and shit, and if you don’t go, it’s going to be even harder to make up the slack,” he replies, going for a different angle. “I’ll get you some Tylenol. Come on. Babe.”

Before Chris can respond, his phone rings. It must be his assistant - he grabs it on the second buzz.

Seb gets up and starts rummaging around for a clean shirt while Chris talks, conversation mostly made up of “okay” and “are they sure?” and “yeah, I can do that.” Somehow his t-shirt ended up in Chris’s suitcase.

He tugs it over his head as Chris ends the call.

“Well?” All he’s gotta do is brush his teeth, and he’s ready. He can totally run down to the front desk to ask for some Tylenol or something. Flu medication is probably out of the question, although that would be fun to watch. “What’d they say?”

Chris sneezes. 

“They said take an hour,” he recaps, wiping his nose. “And let them know.”

Frustrated, Seb clenches his jaw lest he say something he’ll probably regret later, and heads to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

*

He and Mackie head to the convention center without Chris in tow.

By the time Seb is rolling in and walking over to his little cubicle for the day, all of the flat screen TVs are bright red, like there’s an emergency storm warning.

_CHRIS EVANS ANNOUNCEMENT: Last evening, January 13, Chris fell ill and his availability for today is uncertain. Therefore, please see the proposed schedule until we have further clarity._

Seb feels a little bump of anger zing through his chest. Goddamnit.

*

_> They told me to stay home so I wouldn’t get everyone sick._

_> And they rescheduled my flight to today, I have to be at the airport for 5._

_> > Babe I’m so busy, I can’t talk about this right now_

_> > Fell better ok_

_> > I’ll text you when I’m done_

*

The rest of the day is a total fuckshow. Everything gets behind schedule. Between the delayed start to the morning and then Chris cancelling anyways, Seb ends up filling in wherever he can, and overcompensating with every fan that brings it up.

By the time he gets back to the hotel, he wishes Chris didn’t fly home a day early just so Seb could yell at him a little bit.

He does find the I LOVE YOU written on the hotel notepad, and the thing of M&Ms beside it.

Seb waffles for a bit, alternating between looking at his phone and slowly kicking off his shoes and pants. He doesn’t want to call Chris and get into a fight but also they usually talk every night.

_> > Just got back to the hotel, I’m so tired I’m just gonna go right to sleep_

_> > Feel better and I will see you tomorrow ok !!_

_> Thanks babe. Do you want me to pick you up at the airport?_

_> > No it’s fine, I’ll just get a car_

_> Okay, have a safe flight._

_> Miss you, love you, see you tomorrow._

*

The next morning, Seb rolls into LA as a real live zombie.

He barely slept last night even though he was exhausted. He just kept thinking about how the day went, and getting mad all over again. Then on the plane some lady kept dozing off against his shoulder, so he couldn’t even have a nap.

And also currently he’s worried he might get kidnapped at every turn by one of the three teenage girls his managers have put on an internal “most wanted” list, so that doesn’t really help.

He checks his work schedule for tomorrow on the ride home, and yawns. He’s gotta get his shit together, he’s got a call time of 8:30 AM. They’re gonna have to have it out about this today.

Chris is posted up on the couch when Seb gets in.

After leaving his bag in the front hallway, Seb loses his shoes and his jacket and walks straight over to the couch, only briefly patting the dog on the way. He climbs right on top of Chris and steals his blanket.

“I’m not impressed with you right now,” he says, just to make sure they’re both on the same page.

And then he passes out.

*

“I got food, doll,” Chris says gently, trying to wake Seb up.

Groaning, he turns his face into the pillow - his pillow, he’d like to add, from bed, stolen and relocated out here to the couch without written permission. He makes a grumpy noise.

Whatever little sniffle bug Chris had yesterday, Seb has today. He can feel it brewing in his nose.

“I’m still gonna yell at you.” His sleepy voice leaves something to be desired in the intimidating and very-serious department. “Is that gnocchi?”

Chris nods and starts poking at the takeout tin with a spoon, trying to figure out how to get the dumplings from it to their plates without spilling on the carpet. Seb has seen this game played many times before, and it usually ends in a foul.

“And some chicken,” Chris adds, managing to relocate one from tin to plate.

Seb blinks and doesn’t move. He eyes Chris with half his face still mooshed into the pillow. “How do you feel?”

“Still kinda crappy,” he shrugs. He eyes Seb. “I maybe was a little bit hungover.”

Frowning, Seb pushes himself up so he’s sitting, and sighs, “Chris...”

“Maybe a little bit nervous, too,” he frowns.

Seb rubs both hands over his face, trying to wake up. It’s still light outside, it couldn’t be any later than the early afternoon. He crawls up out of the couch so he can pee and get his head on right.

In the bathroom, he blows his nose and swallows two Tylenol with tap water just in case his runny nose is about to turn into something else.

He’s about to step back out into the hall when he pauses, and yells, “Do you want some Tylenol?”

“Already had some,” Chris calls back. “Your food is here.”

Seb sighs and tries smooth his hair down. 

It’s a losing battle, it just sticks up all over the place all awkwardly, and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it. There’s only a minute of finessing before he gives up, smacks the bathroom light off, and heads back into the living room.

It’s weird arguing with Chris. He doesn’t like it, and they don’t do it that often.

Neither of them are very good at it, either.

“We got hammered yesterday,” he says, just to get them started off.

Chris makes a sad frown. “I feel bad already, Seb.”

“Well, I’m still mad.” Seb stands on the other side of the coffee table, and they look at each other. “You didn’t even try.”

He knows that’s probably pushing buttons, but damnit, this is frustrating.

“I didn’t feel good!” Chris exclaims, getting a little fired up himself. “I didn’t want to, I don’t know, get there, and then be committed, and have to see it through until I was passing out in the arms of some teenage girl.”

Seb rolls his eyes. “Wow, you do love a worst case scenario.”

“That’s not funny.” Chris not so delicately smacks some chicken onto their plates.

“It wasn’t a joke!” Damn, now Seb can’t control the way his voice is getting all loud and mad about this. He sighs and walks around the table, moving back towards his seat on the couch. “You just… you let a lot of people down, and, I don’t know.”

Chris eyes him. “What?”

This is gonna get Seb in trouble, he knows it.

“You don’t even seem like you care,” he says delicately.

Chris looks at him all offended.

“I care!” He exclaims, eyebrows shooting up. “Seb, what? You know I care.”

Frowning, Seb stares at the edge of his plate poking over the end of the coffee table, and thinks.

“Chris… you…” He finally ends up trailing off and groaning, head tipping back as he scrubs a hand over his face and complains, “I don’t wanna say this. I know you’re gonna get mad!”

Chris bitches, “I am mad! Now I’m mad!”

“You seemed fine.” Seb goes for patience. He pulls himself straight, head swimming as he looks at Chris, and raises his eyebrows. “I’ve seen you sick, and it’s not a good scene. You could have handled it yesterday.” Then, cause he can’t help himself, “You were in that wedding with a temperature of a 102!”

This is definitely gonna make its way back to Chris’s mom. Seb can tell by the look on his face.

He squints at Seb and says, “Wow.”

“I just- I’m just saying, is all.” Seb sighs. “You could have pushed through.”

Slumping forward, Seb steals a dumpling because his stomach is growling and he hasn’t eaten since he spilled that little bag of plane nuts all over himself. He chews and watches as Chris gets up off the couch and paces over to the kitchen.

“Well, you were right.” Chris smacks the tap on and rinses off his hands, eyebrows practically up in his hairline. “I’m mad now.”

Seb feels a jerk of indignation.

“You can be mad. I’m mad, too,” he says. “I had to cover for both of us yesterday. Mackie was mad, too.”

He watches as Chris angrily dries off his hands. Without looking at Seb, he grumbles, “I texted him. He said don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not in a relationship with you.” It’s out before Seb can stop it, and he feels his adrenaline ricochet up because man, fighting is scary. “I get to tell you when you fucked up.”

Chris shakes his head and starts for the front door. “I gotta get some air.”

Jesus, Seb thinks, groaning a little to himself and tilting his head back against the couch again. This is what he always does, they get all fired up and the right in the middle of getting to it, he pulls out.

“Chris-”

“No, just.” Seb watches as Chris crams his feet back into his sneakers and grabs his jacket off the back of a kitchen stool. “I need some space. Enjoy the food.”

He sticks his hat on his head, jingles his keys in his pocket, and heads for the door.

*

While Chris is gone, Seb angrily eats and angrily reads through his scenes for tomorrow.

It’s nice to know what’s happening in a movie he’s a part of, for once.

*

Seb is putting lids on their kingdom of Italian takeout containers and trying to figure out what to do with the plate Chris made himself when the man himself walks back through the door.

Freezing, Seb stands there behind the counter, and waits to see what’s gonna happen.

He watches as Chris gets in, walks right up to him, and pulls him into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” he muffles into the side of Seb’s neck. Seb lets out a breath and wraps his arms around Chris, too. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Seb closes his eyes and hugs back.

*

“Where did you go?” Seb asks, putting his toothbrush back in the holder.

Chris spits, and reaches for his towel.

“The mall.” He frowns. “I thought maybe I would get a new jacket.”

It’s so ridiculous, Seb can’t help but laugh. He cracks right up and watches Chris in the bathroom mirror as Chris looks back, startled. 

“You are so fucking stupid,” Seb finally cackles out, tugging Chris over by his forearm. Chris lets Seb pull him close and then hold him by the face. Seb raises his eyebrows seriously, and says, “And if you do that again, I really am gonna be mad forever.”

Chris smiles back and murmurs, “Noted.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hay [on tumblr](http://sidnihoudini.tumblr.com)! I'll be hanging around this evening.


End file.
